Aleksandr Lenderman


Aleksandr "Alex" Lenderman is an American chess grandmaster. He won the 2005 World Under-16 Championship in Belfort with a score of 9/10, becoming the first American to win a gold medal at the World Youth Chess Championship since Tal Shaked won the World Junior Championship in 1997.

Early life

Born in Leningrad, he arrived with his family in Brooklyn when he was four. He attended Edward R. Murrow High School in Brooklyn where he played for one of the most successful U.S. high school chess teams of the decade, winning multiple national chess championships.

Chess career

Lenderman attended Edward R. Murrow High School in Brooklyn where, from 2004 to 2007, he was part of the "dream team" winning four straight national high school titles for the school, along with now International Master Salvijus Bercys. He played an important role in the book The Kings of New York, written by Michael Weinreb and published by Gotham Press in 2007.
Lenderman was first in the 2008 USCF Grand Prix, scoring higher than all the grandmasters he competed against by playing and championing in smaller events, including WCL tournaments.
In 2009, he announced after completing his second year at Brooklyn College, he planned to end his studies there and become a professional chess player. He finished first in the 2009 Atlantic Open, in front of several other GMs. He also won the 2009 USCF Grand Prix and was a co-champion of the 2009 U.S. Open.
Lenderman earned three Grandmaster norms in quick succession in the summer of 2009:
In 2014 he won the 18th Open International Bavarian Chess Championship in Bad Wiessee on tiebreak over Robert Hovhannisyan and Ante Saric, after they all tied for first with a score of 7.5/9 points.
Lenderman played for USA team in the 2015 World Team Chess Championship in Tsaghkadzor and scored 5/7, winning the gold medal on the second board.
He won the 2015 World Open after beating Rauf Mamedov in an armageddon playoff; the two had the best tiebreak among eight players who tied for first place with 7/9.
In September 2017, Lenderman participated in the Chess World Cup as the No. 104 seed in the field of 128 players. He upset Pavel Eljanov 2-0 in the first round and Aryan Tari 1.5-0.5 in the second, before losing on tiebreak in the third round to Maxime Vachier-Lagrave.
Later in the same month, Lenderman played in the Chess.com Isle of Man Open, where he finished with a record of +3-0=6, which included a win against Francisco Vallejo Pons, and a performance rating of 2768. His final score of 6/9 placed him in joint 10th to 18th place.

Personal life

Lenderman was born into a Jewish family but converted to Christianity in his 20s. He is currently a student at Webster University.